509-CommanderReport

Commander Report

05/08/2014

Alex Diaz

These last couples of days have been very demanding on all of us; I've asked a lot from the crew and they've responded extremely well. For our EVA today, we had to complete the last of our two-large-wheel configurations in three different terrains. This last reconfiguration set up (i.e. two parallel wheels) took several hours to complete. We tested both a 20" and 16" tire size configuration on three different terrain types (i.e. flat, medium and rough). The results were very positive and demonstrated that this configuration is a feasible approach for two crewmembers to transport an injured crewmember back to the pressurized habitat. The EVA took longer than anticipated, so we came back really tired, rested for a bit, and started working on our reports. Yesterday and today the team also finalized the methods for a plant analysis and began harvesting. In addition, the final mineralogical data was resolved with the subsequent information passed on to our consulting geologist for the final MACHO (rover) report. Tomorrow is our last full day at MDRS, so we plan to clean the Hab, start our final reports and pack. It's hard to believe our last day is so near. Our time at MDRS has definitely gone by too fast!

Alex Diaz